I'd experiment with some powerful ultrasound speakers, activated by motion. Hopefully, after being blasted with the sound several times, the dog will get permanent constipation around your place. But this should be ultrasonic version of a train horn.
Trail cam to catch dog walkers
- Thread starter Zambam
- Start date
I've reset the camera and installed it back to the 1st floor soffit. I've tried all 3 sensitivity levels. On high and medium it false triggers too often with moving leaves (like every few minutes). I don't understand why, it has a PIR (passive infra red) sensor that should block false triggers. On low, it still false triggers but less often (every 10 minutes or so).
Mine false triggers on medium, but the card holds 6 weeks worth of video on that setting which is good enough for me. As long as it triggers when anyone approaches my house, or my truck on the street or wife’s car in the driveway, I can live with it (I don’t use the notification settings). The camera out back barely false triggers. If I go out anywhere on my patio it triggers, and it will capture critters like racoons, opossums, cats, etc at night. For the dog walkers, I think just having the camera seems to have stopped any incidents, and no issues with porch pirates.
The VicoHome has not triggered since 7 pm last night. 7 am this morning, I looked out the window saw the garbage truck and 2 guys picking up the garbage but there was no trigger. E-HP do you agree something’s wrong with my unit? Should I try a replacement or try a different brand? Maybe the Wyze?
Ya, that doesn’t sound right. My garbage pickup was on Tuesday, and it has all three trucks plus me going out to put the cans away. It triggered on a fedex truck parking across the street 25-30 yards or so away, and the driver dropping off a package on my porch.
Definitely something wrong with my unit. I've spent enough time on it already trying to get it to work. Pulled the unit from the soffit and tried it indoors again and could not get it to trigger walking across the room from 16 ft. That's it! Requested a return on Amazon.
I'll wait and see if the camera and "under 24 hour surveillance" sign will help first. Have you tried the ultrasonics yourself?
I ordered the Wyze pan cam V3 last night and it showed up this morning! I am trying out the Cam Plus 31 day free trial. The tracking is a great feature to have! Do you subscribe to the paid services or use it standalone? The Wyze is 1080P and the one I just returned to Amazon is 2K, yet the Wyze has a sharper, more stable picture with less distortion!
Gruesome
1 kW
So I am using it with just pan sweep and tracking, and not paying for any services. I had bought my first Wyze cam early enough to be grandfathered in for pay what you want (zero in my case) for cam-plus lite person detection, or whatever it's called. But I rarely ever look at the recorded events. I noticed sometimes it thinks a car is a person...
Most of my cameras (I'm running six in total) do not have a local memory card installed, and I'm not sure I ever looked at the recordings. I'd agree that video quality is pretty good, and night quality is pretty amazing in the most recent versions! The main downside for me is that they are 2.4GHz only, which means the usual dance of disable 5GHz SSID broadcast - disconnect & reconnect phone to WiFi - install camera and connect to WiFi - reenable 5GHz SSID broadcast on my router whenever I buy a new camera.
Most of my cameras (I'm running six in total) do not have a local memory card installed, and I'm not sure I ever looked at the recordings. I'd agree that video quality is pretty good, and night quality is pretty amazing in the most recent versions! The main downside for me is that they are 2.4GHz only, which means the usual dance of disable 5GHz SSID broadcast - disconnect & reconnect phone to WiFi - install camera and connect to WiFi - reenable 5GHz SSID broadcast on my router whenever I buy a new camera.
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nicobie
100 MW
I've got 3 of the google ones and so far I'm happy enough with them. One of them is running on a battery. Never a problem so far. (~ 5 years)
Gruesome
1 kW
Nest cams? 'google camera' apparently is a phone app.
Can you provide a link to the one you have. I can use another cam for the back of the house. The Wyze Pan Cam V3 is very difficult to point. It's scanning all over the place, not where I want it driving me nuts!
Gruesome
1 kW
You have to turn the automatic pan scan off if you want to point it. That's for some reason easier from a phone than from a tablet, the menu with the scan on/off button is easier to reach. Otherwise I really like watching the pan scan output on a Windows tablet with Wyze installed (in the Windows subsystem for Android). Wyze is probably more straightforward to install on an android tablet.
I am controlling the it from an iPhone. I turned Pan Scan off, repointed it and that helped some. It was false triggering every few minutes on a parked car that's 1/5 obscured by tree leaves. To rid the annoying false triggers when the wind blows, I removed Vehicle from Object Detections and only have Person, Pet, Package selected, now it false triggers on Person when the wind blows! Sensitivity was set to 35. Any suggestions? I have Detection Zone set to exclude the leaves. Track Motion is turned on. When the wind blows, Track Motion points the cam at the moving leaves and gives a Person detected alert. What kind of crappy AI is Wyze using? Any suggestions?
edit: Will turn Track Motion off to see if it helps with the false triggers with wind.
edit: Will turn Track Motion off to see if it helps with the false triggers with wind.
Gruesome
1 kW
As I said, since our pan cam is always up live on the tablet, I have not bothered to set up a detection zone for alarms, so I don't know how well that works with the panorama scan. And yes, the motion tracking, while fun to watch, will definitely drag the camera way out of their usual pattern.
For our other (non-pan) cameras I was pretty meticulous in defining zones that avoid leaves. Still, at certain times of the day shadows of trees will be in the zone, and then there will be recordings every few minutes for some time (half on hour?) on windy days. I just let the cameras record, and waste Wyze's disk space; they could always choose to improve their algorithms, as you are saying or implying.
Having a few too many recordings has never gotten in the way to find a particular one that I'm looking for. Like when I was able to show our neighbor that most likely he himself accidentally unplugged their holiday tree lights; not the answer he wanted, but hey, he asked, and it was in the field of view of one of my cameras.
For our other (non-pan) cameras I was pretty meticulous in defining zones that avoid leaves. Still, at certain times of the day shadows of trees will be in the zone, and then there will be recordings every few minutes for some time (half on hour?) on windy days. I just let the cameras record, and waste Wyze's disk space; they could always choose to improve their algorithms, as you are saying or implying.
Having a few too many recordings has never gotten in the way to find a particular one that I'm looking for. Like when I was able to show our neighbor that most likely he himself accidentally unplugged their holiday tree lights; not the answer he wanted, but hey, he asked, and it was in the field of view of one of my cameras.
Hey Gruesome,
Do you know if the speaker in the cam pan V3 is water proof? Mine is mounted under the soffit /eave which protects it from direct rainfall, but the speaker grill must be facing up for the unit to be pointed at a downward angle to see the sidewalk. If the grill is facing down, the the cam can only be pointed horizontal which sees only the houses across the street, not my sidewalk. I tried adjusting it all different ways and found it not possible to have the speaker grill facing down. Grill facing up, water will flow in through the small holes which can't be good for the speaker and what ever electronics that may be in there.
edit:
By turning off Track Motion and Pan Scan and also setting Detection Zone to not detect the moving branches, I've pretty much eliminated the false alerts when windy. I am thinking of getting a non pan Wyze to replace the pan V3 and move the pan V3 to the back of the house where there are no trees to give false alerts. Do you think the old cam V3 will do the job? Do you have a cam V3? I've read that cam V3 is the only one that can be loaded with a version of firmware via SD card that supports free Cam Lite.
Do you know if the speaker in the cam pan V3 is water proof? Mine is mounted under the soffit /eave which protects it from direct rainfall, but the speaker grill must be facing up for the unit to be pointed at a downward angle to see the sidewalk. If the grill is facing down, the the cam can only be pointed horizontal which sees only the houses across the street, not my sidewalk. I tried adjusting it all different ways and found it not possible to have the speaker grill facing down. Grill facing up, water will flow in through the small holes which can't be good for the speaker and what ever electronics that may be in there.
edit:
By turning off Track Motion and Pan Scan and also setting Detection Zone to not detect the moving branches, I've pretty much eliminated the false alerts when windy. I am thinking of getting a non pan Wyze to replace the pan V3 and move the pan V3 to the back of the house where there are no trees to give false alerts. Do you think the old cam V3 will do the job? Do you have a cam V3? I've read that cam V3 is the only one that can be loaded with a version of firmware via SD card that supports free Cam Lite.
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Gruesome
1 kW
I would assume there is a membrane behind those holes, given the IP65 rating. Mine is mounted the same way, under an overhang, plus we haven't had rain since installation.
I opened the old one, which was not advertised for outdoor use, and did not see any signs of water damage.
I opened the old one, which was not advertised for outdoor use, and did not see any signs of water damage.
Thanks Gruesome, did you see my edited post above?
Gruesome
1 kW
Well, not until now. Answer: I have a few of each, v1, v2 and also v3. I have not tried loading firmware from the SD card. As far as I know, the cam plus lite gets enabled in the account settings, and then selected for each camera individually in the event recording settings, under smart detection. It works for all my non-pan Wyze cameras, v1, v2 and v3, but interestingly I can't seem to be able to enable this for the pan cam v3! But, as already stated earlier, I just let Wyze record any movement anyway, and sort it out when I need to. Plus, if a dog without handler visits your front yard, or a cat decides to dig a hole, or at night raccoons and opossums pay you a visit, person detection would miss those events.
If you are not using the automatic pan scan on the pan cam, then you might as well replace it with a non-pan camera. But you lose the deterrence effect from a camera that pans around regularly. If there is such an effect, and if anybody needs to be deterred...
If you are not using the automatic pan scan on the pan cam, then you might as well replace it with a non-pan camera. But you lose the deterrence effect from a camera that pans around regularly. If there is such an effect, and if anybody needs to be deterred...
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Gruesome
1 kW
Addendum: Just put the flag up for the Fourth, right next to the camera. Absolutely needed to turn off motion tracking, otherwise the camera behaves just like a cat, mesmerized by the flag.
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That's a great idea! Don't have a flag but will try a handkerchief/ piece of cloth.
I've read that Wyze rate poorly on security, to the point some major reviewers (cnet being one?) would not recommend them. You've had Wyze cams for a long time. What's your experience? Any precautionary measures need to be taken to increase security?
Ordered a Wyze cam V4 last night thinking it may be the latest/ greatest with better performance.
I've found that with the cam pan V3, there's a delay of 4 to 5 seconds from detection to getting the push notification. I'd like it to be quicker. Hopefully the cam v4 will do better.
Guerney
100 W
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2021
- Messages
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The ebay listing said "Xiaomi the money", so I bought of their security cameras - hooked up via Wifi 5ghz no problem, the app worked for less than a minute... then all of a sudden it wouldn't do anything at all without a firmware update... upon the application of which it declared "Not for use outside Mainland China!" Wouldn't do anything else, no way to roll back firmware, to the previous version which required the unavoidable firmware update. I demanded the seller Xiaomi the refund, got refunded and now own yet another e-waste brick. Kobo remotely killed my eReader the same way. Apart from computers, my (probably also soon to be remotely killed) Line 6 AmplifiTT and the occasional tablet or phone, I avoid any product which requires internet connection to function. That being said, reading this thread Wyze appears to be a wiser purchase than region locked Xiaomi nothing.
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Gruesome
1 kW
Regarding Wyze security problems and longterm viability prospects: You pays your money and you take your chances...
Security: As far as I am aware, the Wyze data storage backend repeatedly had a security hole where third parties could view a camera video stream and recorded videos. I hope that was only for short durations and has been fixed, but there is always the security aspect of your video being stored not under your control and on an unknown server.
I do not point my cameras indoors when humans are around. Our cats have no expectation of privacy.
Longterm viability: I really liked the 'no added monthly fee' aspect of using Wyze. I believe the on-camera person detection went away when they lost a patent lawsuit? These days they really try to upsell you, but so far they do honor the initial purchase contract by providing the cam plus lite with person detection free of charge (at least to me), not just for old cameras, but even newer ones. Except the pan cam v3, it seems. Or maybe I just have too many cameras on my free account. Either way, as already explained, I let the cameras record any motion and review when needed.
So far Wyze's record of keeping their hardware alive and usable is far better than say Apple's. Those greedy bastards stopped delivering security updates for my iPhone less than two years after I bought it (new, from Apple).
Security: As far as I am aware, the Wyze data storage backend repeatedly had a security hole where third parties could view a camera video stream and recorded videos. I hope that was only for short durations and has been fixed, but there is always the security aspect of your video being stored not under your control and on an unknown server.
I do not point my cameras indoors when humans are around. Our cats have no expectation of privacy.
Longterm viability: I really liked the 'no added monthly fee' aspect of using Wyze. I believe the on-camera person detection went away when they lost a patent lawsuit? These days they really try to upsell you, but so far they do honor the initial purchase contract by providing the cam plus lite with person detection free of charge (at least to me), not just for old cameras, but even newer ones. Except the pan cam v3, it seems. Or maybe I just have too many cameras on my free account. Either way, as already explained, I let the cameras record any motion and review when needed.
So far Wyze's record of keeping their hardware alive and usable is far better than say Apple's. Those greedy bastards stopped delivering security updates for my iPhone less than two years after I bought it (new, from Apple).
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